muppetfandomcom-20200223-history
Posthumous works of Jim Henson
Projects conceived, developed, worked on, or containing original material by Jim Henson, but released or continued after his death on May 16, 1990. *Here Come the Muppets (1990) The Disney stage show opened 9 days after Henson's death. The show featured vocal track by Henson (as Kermit and Dr. Teeth) along with a pre-show video featuring Henson as Rowlf the Dog. *''Mother Goose Stories'' (1990) While 3 episodes had previously been seen on home video, the Henson-produced series debuted on Disney Channel three months after his death. *Final season of Muppet Babies (1990) The final season of Muppet Babies, produced by Henson, aired on CBS in the fall of 1990. *Sesame Street Live: "Sleeping Birdie" and "Let's Play School" (1990) Two Sesame Street Live shows opened in 1990 after Henson's death that featured his vocals as Ernie. According to Jim Waters and Douglas Kinsley, the recording session for "Let's Play School" was the last time Henson performed Ernie before his death.'Street' gang hits books Big Bird and pals will 'Play School', 20 February 1992. *''Sesame Street'' (1990-2008) Material featuring performances by Jim Henson continued to be used on the show after his death up until the 2008 season (Henson continued to be a credited performer until the 2001 season). Past Henson performances have also been featured on Play with Me Sesame and continue to be included on various home video releases. In 1993, a newly created insert of "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" was filmed with Aaron Neville and Ernie utilizing Henson's original vocal track. In 1998, the song "Rubber Duckie" was also recreated using Henson's original vocals as Ernie, as was "La, La, La". *''The Storyteller: Greek Myths'' (1990) Executive produced and developed by Henson, the series did not air until December 1990. *''Living with Dinosaurs'' (1990) The television special produced by Henson was not seen until December 1990. *Unaired episodes of The Jim Henson Hour (1990-1993) The final episodes (10, 11, and 12) of the series aired in the UK and later on Nickeloden in the US between 1990 and 1993. *Muppet*Vision 3D (1991) The attraction was the last project directed by Jim Henson who died before its completion and opening. It features Henson as Kermit, Waldorf, and the Swedish Chef. The attraction opened at Walt Disney World on the first anniversary of Henson's death on May 16, 1991. *''Dinosaurs'' (1991) News articles written at the time of the premiere highlighted the show's connection to Jim Henson, who had died the year before. "Jim Henson dreamed up the show's basic concept about three years ago," said a New York Times article in April, 1991. "'He wanted it to be a sitcom with a pretty standard structure, with the biggest differences being that it's a family of dinosaurs and their society has this strange toxic life style,' said Brian Henson. 'But until The Simpsons took off,' said Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, 'people thought it was a crazy idea.'" A 1993 article in The New Yorker said that Henson continued to work on the project until the "last months of his life." *Sesame Street: Letters and Numbers (1991) The interactive computer games feature vocals by Jim Henson as Ernie and Kermit. *''Dog City'' (1992) A television series based on the characters and world created by Henson's 1989 television special. *Ol' Brown Ears is Back (1993) Although the album was first released in 1993 (three years after Henson's death), the songs were actually recorded by Jim Henson (as Rowlf) and Derek Scott (on piano) almost a decade earlier, in January 1984. *''Secret Life of Toys'' (1994) A television series based on the characters and world created by Henson's television special The Christmas Toy. *''Animal Show'' (1994) A television series based on a concept developed by Henson. *''CityKids'' (1994) The segment of the show featuring Libido, Lieutenant and Captain was based on a concept developed by Henson in 1983 for the unproduced Starboppers. *Gulliver's Travels (1996) The production had been in the works since 1989 and was initially scheduled for Easter 1990. Jim Henson was set to executive produce. Producer Duncan Kenworthy recalled the situation: "It was something I'd been developing while Jim was still alive. He was in on some of the meetings, but we just couldn't raise the money. We wanted to do the whole book -- nobody had ever done it before, and this is what interested Jim. I could have financed a film of the first two parts instantly, but not the rest." The project remained on the schedule following Henson's death but actual filming did not begin until 1995."Elsewhere in Television." Associate Press wire. July 29, 1989.Bacon, Matt. No Strings Attached. p. 151 *The Muppet Show Live (2001) The stage show featured live performances of "Mah Na Mah Na" and "Can You Picture That" performed to Jim Henson's original vocal tracks for Mahna Mahna and Dr. Teeth (puppeteering was done by Bill Barretta). *CanTeen (2005) Archival audio of Jim as Kermit is used in the commercial. *Jim Henson Designs (2007) Merchandise and items based on artwork by Henson developed and released after Henson's death. *Alexander the Grape (2009) An unfinished animated film written and produced by Henson in 1965 was discovered by the The Jim Henson Company Archives in 2009. The original audio tracks and animated footage were combined with Henson's original storyboards to create a complete reconstruction of the unfinished short for exhibition and historical use. *Jim Henson's Red Book (2010-present) Blog and social media posts adapted from excerpts from Henson's personal diary. These notes were collected and published in the book Imagination Illustrated: The Jim Henson Journal (2012). *''Tale of Sand'' (2012) The graphic novel was based upon an unproduced screenplay written and developed by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl. *''The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow'' (2014) The graphic novel was based upon an unproduced screenplay developed by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl. *''Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow'' (2015) The television special was based upon an unproduced screenplay developed by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl. *An animated lyrics video for "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon"(2019) An animated music video of the song, using the original track with Jim Henson's vocals. *"What's the Name of That Song?" Dance Remix Video An animated music video of the song, using a vocal track featuring Jim Henson as Ernie, taken from Bert & Ernie Sing-Along. *''Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration'' (2019) Archival audio of Henson as the Baker from the "Numerosity" series is used over a new actor as the Baker. See also *Posthumous works of Henson employees *Production dedications Sources __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Miscellaneous Lists